Recently, the Information Technology Services organization at Bellevue College has put together some changes that are designed to “empower our division to work together more efficiently and have a better campus view of issues and needs,” according to an FYI Bulletin posted on the Bellevue College website by Russell Beard, the vice president of ITS.
A handful of different teams have come together as one group under the direction of Beard. Several important teams have joined together under larger and broader groups. For example, the Integration and Infrastructure teams have grouped together under a larger Enterprise Services team, where Eden Lasater leads the Integration team and Rodger Harrison leads the Infrastructure team. According to Beard, they both have done “a tremendous job of aligning and leading their teams into this new structure.”
Other leaders of ITS include Jason Aqui, director of Technical Support Services, Steve Ramsey, general manager of KBCS FM radio station and Rick Otte, leading the Television Services team.
This also allows staff members to dedicate their time to specific projects.
Gary Farris, IT compliance manager, is now able to turn his attention to updating the college’s IT Security Policies and Standards. He is also currently working on a “PCI Compliance audit as mandated by the state to handle credit card transactions among other things,” explained the bulletin.
Jarka Gurthova, the executive director of operations for ITS, has also accepted a project assignment. According to the website, “Jarka will lead an effort to evaluate and augment the process and procedures involved in managing technology procurement and distribution.” This will include inventory and asset management. Other changes includes Fiscal Specialist Anna Ivina who will report to Gurthova, along with Lyndsey Anker taking an hourly support position that helps organize Beard’s calendar.
Beard explained the three different teams in the ITS. The first of them, Technology Support Services, handles helpdesk, desktop support, classroom technology support and all technology training. The Integration team, which makes up the second group, handles development of tools that connect apps with data, Web content support, software design and maintenance and implementation support. Lastly, the infrastructure team handles network and telecom support, server support and cloud services.
These are just summaries and do not include each and every role that these teams must fill.
Through the new changes to ITS infrastructure, Beard hopes “response times for new equipment and trouble tickets to decrease, and more self-service tools will be made available.”
In short, the new groupings “are designed to make our team more efficient and better equipped to respond to the needs of the college,” explained Beard.